Mission Out of a Backpack: Day 53-60

Day 53 0-miles 05-22-14

Comfort inn Troutville, VA

It has been a good day to take a zero day. It's in the mid 80's outside and humid as can be. This morning we woke around 7:45am and moseyed down to breakfast. We dined on sausage, eggs, donuts, and waffles. Basically all the food we wish was available on trail but isn't. On the way back to the room, I grabbed a news paper and topped off my coffee. At this point, we settled in for a relaxing morning of sipping coffee and reading. It was nice to feel civilized again. I've been expecting new shoes for a week and today's the day I'm supposed to get them. As I'm checking the UPS tracking status, I learn that bad weather will delay them a day. After working there for almost six years, I know these things happen but it's not fun when they happen to you. Then, at noon the front desk calls and my shoes had arrived!! It will be so nice to hike in footwear that breathe, instead of leather sauna boots. Around 2:00pm, we ventured across the street to dollar general to get some glue to fix Dawns hiking pole and a shoe string for her boot. As we were walking back we see a man run out of a Polaris dealership building scream, flap his arms, and run back in. This warrants an investigation. It turns out, it was just a salesman having a boring day, but on the plus side they did let us ride around on a four wheeler in the parking lot. After some fun on four wheels, we got back to our room and vegetated to some TV. In my opinion, TV is among the least rewarding things on earth. I've walked away from sitting in front of a TV having felt I had accomplished nothing. But none the less, it was nice to have an easy afternoon. One really cool thing did happen today though, as I sat in the lobby on the computer, Dawn had gone upstairs to shower and I was alone, an older man walked Into the lobby with a limp and I felt The Lord say to go pray for him. What? So I go out to his car and help him and his wife carry their luggage up and I pray for him. Less than 30-mins later, he calls my room to tell me that he is walking around with no limp and pain free! God is so good! As we finished up our zero day, I talked on the phone with some family and friends, took an Epsom salt bath, and got ready for bed. Overall, it's been a pretty perfect zero day. Life goes easy.

Day 54 18.5-miles 05-23-14

Comfort inn-Bobblets shelter

It's always a treat to wake up and not have a war with gnats first thing in the morning. We didn't get around to leaving the hotel until 11:30am, and it was so nice to have a slow morning. I even had a chance to reapply tick repellent to our shoes before heading out. Not to long ago, I found a tick crawling on my leg. It's the only one we've seen on us, and I largely attribute that to our liberal use of permatherm. The trail today was fairly easy with some pretty good climbs. The climbs took us higher in elevation which will mean cooler sleeping tonight. Tomorrow we know of a "hiker feed" 24-miles from where we are staying tonight. These "hiker feeds" are generally put together by a group of past thru-hikers who want to give back. Dawn and I have talked about how cool it would be to come back next year and setup our own "hiker feed." Today just before camp, we came across some coolers stocked with soda and little Debbie snacks. Not only does it boost moral, but the impending sugar rush is always welcomed. We also started the Blue Ridge Parkway today. It's a scenic road that winds across Virginia's best views. The only negative is that we constantly cross it which means getting used to looking both ways for cars. In 90-miles or so we'll hike skyline drive, it's another scenic road, but we've heard that it has lots of snack stands and little stores. That's means we'll have constant access to food and air conditioning. My new shoes are awesome! I joked with Dawn that even though they say "all terrain" on them their favorite terrain to traverse is the floor board of a car. That joke doesn't look very funny having just typed it out, but earlier it was hilarious. It's the little things that mean the most out here.

Day 55 24-miles 05-24-14

Bobblets shelter-Thunder hill shelter

We've hiked what seems to be every type of trail Virginia has to offer today. Anything from long smooth down hills, insane uphills, ultra nice smooth flats, and at one point we climbed boulders. We left camp at 7:45am and we had decided to take very few breaks. By 1:00pm we had already knocked out 14-miles. Just after lunch a sad thing happened, I rolled my right ankle and bit the dust pretty hard. Dawn was so nice to come help me up and dust me off. It was pretty tender the rest of the day, but we still pushed on to make it to the hiker feed. Just before the feed, we peaked a mt with some kind of geometric dome. Turns out it's an FAA radar. When we got to the feed it was basically over, but the lady coordinating it asked if we would hang around until tomorrow. After all the tales of how good it was, I doubt if we'll hike on until we get some of her great cooking. We did hang out at the feed until 7:30 or so. The AT is so different from normal life. Sometimes you have to frequently change plans, and we've learned that's not a bad thing. Tomorrow should be a great day.

Day 56 17-miles 05-25-14

Thunder hill shelter-Johns Hollow

The hiker feed turned out to be awesome!! We planned to stick around after we heard so much good about it, so we took an easy morning and didn't wake up until 8:30 am, and then sat around until 11:00am reading and slowly making breakfast. When we walked up to the feed it hadn't started yet, but two guys we had met previously were already sitting and waiting. One guy know as Honey Bear who has long red hair and a wild beard had started the festivities by foraging for what we could come to know as "yarrow root" (I spelled that phonetically so it could be wrong). He had his shirt pockets jammed full of the stuff, and every time some one would walk up he would pull some out and offer. The benefit of this root is that when you chew it your mouth goes numb. To my surprise he actually got several people to indulge. It was almost bizarre to watch as people took dirty roots from this guys shirt pocket and chewed it to see if their mouth really went numb. I've been pondering to sociological aspect of this ever since it happened. Was it blind trust or the communal adventurous spirit of thru hiking that got people to eat this stuff? I haven't decided. None the less, Dawn and I politely declined the mouth numbing root. However, we did stuff ourselves with every dish that was made. This ranged from cheese cake to ziti to Tator-tot casserole. It was a feast to behold. At 3:00pm we decided to push on despite the fact there was more food to come. We ended up night hiking the last 4-miles. One cool thing about this being Memorial Day weekend is that all the weekend backpackers that come out. Right as we started night hiking, a family offered us some Starbucks coffee. He said it was good, but that was an understatement. This was French press Starbucks brand coffee. Basically as good as it gets when your back in the woods, or at home for that matter. With a cup of super charged coffee we hiked the last bit in the dark. By the way, night hiking is no fun. Way to many spider webs and way to big a chance to miss a shelter and end up walking who knows how much further to a campsite. But we made it to camp around 10:30pm. I setup the tent as fast as possible and we ate tortilla shells with peanut butter for dinner. It's been a long day, but well worth it.

Day 57 18-miles 05-26-14

Johns hollow-Brown creek shelter

It's steadily getting warmer and it wouldn't be a stretch to say the cool days of spring have come and gone. We started off our day with a 2500ft climb followed by several more descents and climbs. The views are breath taking, but the climbs are as well. As the old saying goes, anything worth having is worth working for. We did climb one intriguing mountain that was the unfortunate site of a death in 1890. Apparently, a close by school house sent out little 4-year old Ottie Cline Powell one cool fall day to search for fire wood to warm the school. He got lost and never returned. The following spring his body was found on top of Bluff Mountain. Who could have possibly foreseen that a four year old kid would get lost when sent out for fire wood? It's the saddest story I've read all trip. After that mountain, we had lunch at a shelter along the way. The coolest part of today was the peddler river. We decided to jump in since it's been pretty hot. Both of us took our first river bath (with clothes on). Not just rinsing off, but actual scrubbing to get rid of the sweat grime. Afterwords, it was still hot enough that I decided to hike to camp in just compression shorts. I bet I'll be doing that more as it gets hotter along with most of the other hikers. The last two miles into camp were a dream since the trail followed an old road and was as flat as it gets out here. We made double our normal amount of dinners to replace some of the calories we should of had last night. That should make the climbing easier tomorrow since we'll have the energy to do it. Life goes easy.

Day 58 16-miles 05-27-14

Brown creek shelter-Seely shelter

Today we got up a little earlier than normal and got to hiking at 8:00am. From were we camped, it was 2-miles to a road crossing where we could hitch into town and get some supplies and a bite to eat. God always provides and today was no different. As soon as we got to the road another hiker, Hawksbill, was being dropped off by his wife. He lives close to this section of trail so he has been going home at night. She offered to take us into town. Because Dawn still dislikes hitch hiking she was thrilled it happened this way. We made it to town and the kind lady dropped us off at the Food Lion. I was really excited because I had phone service for the first time in several hundred miles, so I got to call a couple friends and see how their life has been. After getting food for the tail, we decided to grab lunch at Hardee's. They had a power-aid option on their fountain drinks which we used to fill up our spare bottles. As soon as we threw a thumb up to head back to the trail we got a ride. I think it's because Dawn is too cute to turn down. This guy was an interesting character, and probably the first one I was careful of when we started driving, but none the less we made it back safe and sound. As a welcome back the trail gave us some huge climbs and hordes of bugs. Eventually, we made it to a drier ridge line and the bugs let up. I'm hoping since it's been a pretty dry spring here the bugs won't last long and Dawn is praying that too. Every time a bug lands on her she goes to war with it. Watching her hike is like watching a one person Kung Fu movie. She is constantly hitting and punching every bug she can. Around 6:30pm, we made it to the shelter. We've gotten pretty efficient at getting water, cooking dinner, and going to bed. It's much faster than when we first started the trail. As a side note it's been far to long since since I've showered and really scrubbed. Everything smells and it probably will till until we finish. Sometimes I think even my hands stink. But that's all in it. Life goes easy.

Day 59 21-miles 05-28-14

Seely shelter-Maupin shelter

A couple rules we've learned about the A.T. are as follows:

1) From where you are, pick the highest point, you'll be climbing that mountain next.

2) From the top of what you thought was the highest point pick the new highest point and that's the mountain you'll be climbing next.

Those two rules have proven to be an infallible doctrine of the A.T. today. Don't take it as complaining. Each mountain climb holds it's own reward, and most of the time the trail wraps around the mountain to provide multiple views of each side. They call these hills the Blue Ridge Mountains, and they are so beautiful. This trail is not for the faint of heart, thus the high attrition rate, but it is amazing. God in all his wonder made this incredible land and we get to see it in the best way. Out here we have the opportunity to live so close to God's untouched creation and I'm at a loss for words to tell you how that feels. We made it into camp tonight around 6:45pm. Tomorrow in Waynesborow, VA there is a church hostel that hosts a weekly dinner every Thursday night. The catch is space is limited. We like the people we hike with but not enough to give up a free meal. My wife is pretty slick at getting information. We learned everybody at the shelter planned to wake up around 5:30am to hike the 20-miles into town. We decided to wake up at 4:00am to get a jump. Three hikers even decided to hike further tonight to get a head start. But we are not sure they will wake up early enough to maintain there spot in the front. Either way, we'll give it our best shot to get into town early. Life goes easy.

Day 60 21-miles 05-29-14

Maupin shelter-Waynesborrow, VA

When our alarms went off this morning at 4:00am is was so hard to get moving and we ended up snoozing 15 minutes. The trail had us camping on a high ridge line and this morning when I got out of the tent it was the thickest fog I've ever seen. With my head lamp, I could not see more than 10ft in front of me. Normally, on the high-beam setting I can easily see 100 yards away. We packed up camp, and started hiking by 5:30am. At 7:00am we passed the three guys who had left last night which meant we were in the lead. At this point, it started to steadily drizzle on us. As much as hiking in the rain seems like it would be miserable, we actually enjoyed it. The rain was a nice contrast to the blisteringly hot days we've been experiencing. By noon, we had already completed 15-miles. The last 5 miles we did in 1.5 hours. At times, I gave up on walking and jogged a bit. We made jokes about how at the end of a 20-mile hike we really enjoy a good run. Our hitching hiking situation today was more difficult by the fact that we were both soaking wet. Basically nobody wants to pick up a wet, stinky stranger from the curb. However, we did find a list of local trail angels and after a couple calls we found one to come pick us up. His name was Tom and he was so nice. He gave us a ride to town, showed us around, and even gave Dawn a spa basket that his wife puts together for all the girl hikers. Dawn was elated to have a sponge to shower with, and it even came with spa slippers to wear after she showered. The dinner was everything it had been hyped up to be. It is put on by a Lutheran church in town, and all the lady's every Thursday night give the hikers a free hot meal. We also participated in a Vespers service. It was basically singing a couple hymns, a reflection on some scripture and a couple more hymn's. It was such a blessing to be apart of a church service. Dawn requested to sing her favorite hymn "Blessed Assurance" which was pretty cool. For the rest of the night we sat around and talked. I even got a chance to minister to a guy who just got out of the Army, God has been so good to place us in just the right place at just the right time. God is good.